1880's: the Sino-French War
Charlie MacDonald, Strange States and Bizzare Borders, (weirdworld.postr.com, 2014)
Oh boy, the Sino-French War.
Here we go again.
Before I start, let me remind you all that this is Strange. States. And. Bizarre. Borders. And those who have been here long know of my aversion to covering wars in general. There are other forums for those who are interested, but I like to keep things short and distinct here. OK?
Now before we can talk about all of this, we need to talk about France. The French Third Republic was feeling a little… sore from what happened at Tunisia and there were many in her government whom wanted to salve that aching wound. Namely, they wanted more colonies. So entered into the public eye a man named Jules Ferry, a republican deputy for Vosges who got himself swept into power in 1883.
He was a supporter of colonial expansion, seeing it not only as an issue of national pride, but also of the mission civilisatrice, even espousing at one point, “it is a right for the superior races, because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize the inferior races.”
And one region where he and everyone looked was Indochina. The region was already under considerable French influence, but the colonies of Annam and Tonkin were of particular attention. France wanted inland trade and the Red River seemed to look like the perfect waterway for that. They also wanted to play catch-up with Great Britain and the Dutch, who were busy doing their own thing in the East Indies.
And so it wasn’t that surprising that the government took notice when a few hot-headed French officers stormed the citadel of Hanoi.
One officer: “This will force them to take forward their Tonkin Question!”
Ferry saw the opportunity and tried to wrench the Indochinese states apart during the damage negotiations. However, their counterparts in the East was… scatterbrained? Confused? Distracted. Yep, distracted’s good.
You see, for Annam and Tonkin it was all a big fat headache. Their armies and defences couldn’t possibly match up to the French. Even worse, Qing China was also dealing with problems of her own, largely due to the ongoing court struggle between Empress Alute and Dowager Empress Cixi over who gets to raise their son/grandson [1]. Court functionaries were replaced time and again and talks were literally stopped halfway through 1883 because a Marquis on the Chinese side got himself replaced – and said replacement wrote back to Peking naively stating that France would never go to war for Indochina.
Yeah. That happened.
As talks stopped, France went into action, taking coastal forts without regard and hoping to present a fait accompli to the other side. The only force close by that was capable of matching them was the Black Flag Army; a bandit force that grew into a massive extortion racket in northern Tonkin. With other things on their minds, Peking sanctioned the group to attack French troops.
The Sino-French War has begun.
You see, for Annam and Tonkin it was all a big fat headache. Their armies and defences couldn’t possibly match up to the French. Even worse, Qing China was also dealing with problems of her own, largely due to the ongoing court struggle between Empress Alute and Dowager Empress Cixi over who gets to raise their son/grandson [1]. Court functionaries were replaced time and again and talks were literally stopped halfway through 1883 because a Marquis on the Chinese side got himself replaced – and said replacement wrote back to Peking naively stating that France would never go to war for Indochina.
Yeah. That happened.
As talks stopped, France went into action, taking coastal forts without regard and hoping to present a fait accompli to the other side. The only force close by that was capable of matching them was the Black Flag Army; a bandit force that grew into a massive extortion racket in northern Tonkin. With other things on their minds, Peking sanctioned the group to attack French troops.
The Sino-French War has begun.
“Sooo… anyone have any croissants left?”
With everything said, the land battles were actually roughly matched. The French corps was more modern yet was also full of hot-headed officers, making progress slow and discordant as they slowly marched into the highlands, fighting against the royal forces, the Flack Flags, and the Yunnan Army of the Qing (though that last bit was at the border).
By contrast, the naval battles were more dramatic and fast-paced (well, for the standards of the time) and it was there that several major events happened:
By contrast, the naval battles were more dramatic and fast-paced (well, for the standards of the time) and it was there that several major events happened:
- The British closed their ports to French gunboats…
- The South China Sea rumour happened, and…
- The Republic’s Navy captured the Pescadores.
The first one was kinda expected. Under the 1870 Foreign Enlistment Act, Great Britain can close its ports to foreign Powers under certain conditions, and London did just that in January 1884. Under pressure from Peking, they closed every port they controlled in the Far East to French warships. In response, France imposed a rice blockade at the Yangtze River delta, hoping to literally starve the capital to peace.
It wasn’t long after this that the second bullet point happened. In March, a rumour got around that Singapore will arm-twist Sarawak and close the South China Sea to France. By all accounts, it was absurd; besides international maritime law, Sarawak’s oceanic navy was pitiful (it was their river navy that was packin’!) and Charles Brooke would rather sell stuff to the French than block them. But the rumour got stuck in Paris long enough to make a few officers look at their maps.
The third one really got everyone eye-popping. Around the same time as the rumour above, a small detachment of the French navy nabbed the Pescadores Islands, cutting off Qing smugglers from supplying Taiwan, which was under a naval blockade.
This stunned the court. Whatever Annam and Tonkin were, they were tributary states. Taiwan was an integral province. Taking the Pescadores would mean gaining a stepping-stone to the island and cutting off smuggling routes to the mainland and back. That, more than anything, more than Annam, more than Tonkin, more than the rice blockade, made them offer peace.
There was also the fact that Japan was doing its own shenanigans on Korea, so that’s that.
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Karpal Singh, The Greatest Wars of the 19th Century, (Bridgeworth Press: 1984)
…The terms of the 1884 Tientsin Convention granted France with all it had wanted. Protection of Annam and Tonkin would be handed to the Third Republic, from which the French would be free to impose their rulers the Treaty of Huế.
There was some smarting by both sides over the Pescadores Islands, though. Both governments knew of the island’s value as a stepping-stone for Formosa, as well as a strategic stopover point for vessels heading to Japan. Thus, both sides pressured hard for its incorporation into the Convention. While the Qing pushed hard, Ferry’s ministers pushed harder, and so the islands were renamed to îles des Pêcheurs ('The Fishermen's Islands') and became a French colony, in exchange for no indemnities from Peking.
When the Convention’s terms were published in China, public outrage was incalculable. Attacks on foreign businesses increased dramatically, and so were attacks on foreigners. Violence in China rose to such a point that several nations sent warships to ports like Fuzhou and Hong Kong to defend their nationals from harm. Still, even in Europe and the Americas public sympathy shifted towards the Qing; indeed, many saw France as being too domineering and unfair in claiming Chinese soil that was far removed from the main conquests.
…The terms of the 1884 Tientsin Convention granted France with all it had wanted. Protection of Annam and Tonkin would be handed to the Third Republic, from which the French would be free to impose their rulers the Treaty of Huế.
There was some smarting by both sides over the Pescadores Islands, though. Both governments knew of the island’s value as a stepping-stone for Formosa, as well as a strategic stopover point for vessels heading to Japan. Thus, both sides pressured hard for its incorporation into the Convention. While the Qing pushed hard, Ferry’s ministers pushed harder, and so the islands were renamed to îles des Pêcheurs ('The Fishermen's Islands') and became a French colony, in exchange for no indemnities from Peking.
When the Convention’s terms were published in China, public outrage was incalculable. Attacks on foreign businesses increased dramatically, and so were attacks on foreigners. Violence in China rose to such a point that several nations sent warships to ports like Fuzhou and Hong Kong to defend their nationals from harm. Still, even in Europe and the Americas public sympathy shifted towards the Qing; indeed, many saw France as being too domineering and unfair in claiming Chinese soil that was far removed from the main conquests.
Nevertheless, the Sino-French War proved one thing: Small were the Pescadores islands, yet their handover to France confirmed that China was not immune to imperial conquest and partition. This lesson was observed greatly by Japan as it began enacting their own plans over Korea.
However, there were some lessons learnt for France as well. Their officer corps was badly in need of reform, as was their attention to supplies. More subtly, The Third Republic wondered what had happened if their route to the Far East was blocked by other Powers. What if open stopover ports would refuse French warships due to pre-existing agreements?
It was this lingering fear that made them look at their maps, and especially towards the colonial holders of Borneo…
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1. Based on post #668 China’s history is butterflied a bit. Empress Xiaozheyi (Alute) managed to conceive a son to Emperor Tongzhi, though he still died somewhat around 1879.
It was this lingering fear that made them look at their maps, and especially towards the colonial holders of Borneo…
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1. Based on post #668 China’s history is butterflied a bit. Empress Xiaozheyi (Alute) managed to conceive a son to Emperor Tongzhi, though he still died somewhat around 1879.
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